My China/Thailand Trip (finally) with photos

disneydreams · 07-31-2005, 06:04 PM

haha, as you guys know, I was in China and Thailand for the past month. I got back about a week and two days ago, and I finally got off my lazy ass and actually took the time and effort to type this up. I was gonna write my report in my xanga blog but I have to present the photos later for a post-trip party, so I didn't really want my friends to see it..cuz it'd spoil the fun and everything. alrighty, I took close to a thousand photos, but deleted quite a few...so I'm actually down to about 900...maybe a little more.

I was actually kinda dreading this trip. mousepod knows about that. haha The Thailand extension to the trip was optional and I was forced to go, months later, we realized that I was gonna be in Thailand on July 17. And that was quite frustrating because my mom promised me we'd be at DL on July 17. And she was being kinda bitchy about it. meh, so that was always in my mind mainly throughout the Thailand portion of the trip, which took a little bit of the fun away from the Thai experience. meh anyways

This thing's gonna be hella long, fyi

What up SFO.

Shanghai-1 night
We visited the Shanghai Children's Palace, where our Chinese homestay buddies went to school. We didn't see our buddies though because they were busy prepping for their exams. After Lunch, we took a 3.5-hour-long bus ride to Jiangyin. Along the way, I noticed the roofs of the old residences off the highway. The city's in the Jiangsu province in Eastern China.

Jiangyin-3 nights
Jiangyin's known to be the home of the wealthiest farmers in China. We walked from our hotel to the shopping plaza (8 minutes duration), and past that was a park which, in the old days, was where huge exam results were announced. All the statues' countenances obviously tell how well each of them did. We visited the Goose's Mouth park and past the relatively long tunnel, you walk walk walk along the edge of the Yangtze River until you reach this pavilion. You then have a nice view of the Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge and, of course, the Yangtze River. We also came by this, haha get this, OTHER park which was supposed to be an amusement park type thing. anyways, that was the location of the set for the Japanese movie "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

Then we had to begin our two-day-long community service program, and we visited the Jiang Yin Elementary School to teach them about American Culture. We were warmly welcomed, with the children chanting and waving their bouquets of paper flowers.

Back to Shanghai-3 nights
When we arrived back in Shanghai, we had to go back to the Children's Palace to begin our one-night homestay program with my buddy's family. My buddy and I went to the Bund at night. Really crowded, yet really pretty...especially the Oriental Pearl Tower (TV/Radio Tower) which is on the far left. In the morning, we went to the local park where seniors, including my buddy's grandparents, had their morning activities. We thought they'd be dancing for that day, but to my delight, they were actually playing badminton. (SWEET) that was nice, because I had to train for my to-be-3-singles slot for next year. Played the best guy there (he was 80...something). yeah, he taught me some new techniques, and in the end, I gained respect of the people at the park. yay. We did some other stuff, but then, in the evening, we returned to...the Children's Palace, yet again for our farewell ceremony.

The next couple of days, we just went sightseeing. We went to this awesome fishing village. I'm pretty sure it was called Zhu Jia Jiao...but I could be wrong because there are something like two other villages around the area as well...But I think that's the name of the village because my Chinese surname is pronounced "Zhu" in Mandarin...and I saw all these characters of my surname all over the village. dude, that was awesome. We got on one of the boats (8 people per boat) and went down the narrow canal. This guy was our guide. When we disembarked, these random ladies were given some of us bags of fish. And we weren't sure what they were doing, because we didn't want to have to carry fish with us all day. Turns out, you make a wish and release the fish into the canal. ^_^ We also went to the Yu Garden. Yeah, this is me by one of the nice ponds in the garden. the place was a bit of a labyrinth. it was kinda hard for us to find the exit signs. o_O Prior to the entrance of the Yu Garden, was the Bridge of Nine Turns. If one crosses that bridge before entering the garden, his safety from evil spirits is ensured because evil spirits can't turn haha. So we also went up the Oriental Pearl Tower which has a great view of Shanghai...everything there was awesome except for the elevator ride up/down..which was hot...and ridiculously fast for an elevator. At the bottom floor of the tower's the Old Shanghai History Museum. woo. We went to the Bund (for me, the second time), afterwards.

In the evening, we took an overnight train to Beijing.

07-31-2005, 06:04 PM	#1
disneydreams is where? Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 18	My China/Thailand Trip (finally) with photos haha, as you guys know, I was in China and Thailand for the past month. I got back about a week and two days ago, and I finally got off my lazy ass and actually took the time and effort to type this up. I was gonna write my report in my xanga blog but I have to present the photos later for a post-trip party, so I didn't really want my friends to see it..cuz it'd spoil the fun and everything. alrighty, I took close to a thousand photos, but deleted quite a few...so I'm actually down to about 900...maybe a little more. I was actually kinda dreading this trip. mousepod knows about that. haha The Thailand extension to the trip was optional and I was forced to go, months later, we realized that I was gonna be in Thailand on July 17. And that was quite frustrating because my mom promised me we'd be at DL on July 17. And she was being kinda bitchy about it. meh, so that was always in my mind mainly throughout the Thailand portion of the trip, which took a little bit of the fun away from the Thai experience. meh anyways This thing's gonna be hella long, fyi What up SFO. Shanghai-1 night We visited the Shanghai Children's Palace, where our Chinese homestay buddies went to school. We didn't see our buddies though because they were busy prepping for their exams. After Lunch, we took a 3.5-hour-long bus ride to Jiangyin. Along the way, I noticed the roofs of the old residences off the highway. The city's in the Jiangsu province in Eastern China. Jiangyin-3 nights Jiangyin's known to be the home of the wealthiest farmers in China. We walked from our hotel to the shopping plaza (8 minutes duration), and past that was a park which, in the old days, was where huge exam results were announced. All the statues' countenances obviously tell how well each of them did. We visited the Goose's Mouth park and past the relatively long tunnel, you walk walk walk along the edge of the Yangtze River until you reach this pavilion. You then have a nice view of the Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge and, of course, the Yangtze River. We also came by this, haha get this, OTHER park which was supposed to be an amusement park type thing. anyways, that was the location of the set for the Japanese movie "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Then we had to begin our two-day-long community service program, and we visited the Jiang Yin Elementary School to teach them about American Culture. We were warmly welcomed, with the children chanting and waving their bouquets of paper flowers. Back to Shanghai-3 nights When we arrived back in Shanghai, we had to go back to the Children's Palace to begin our one-night homestay program with my buddy's family. My buddy and I went to the Bund at night. Really crowded, yet really pretty...especially the Oriental Pearl Tower (TV/Radio Tower) which is on the far left. In the morning, we went to the local park where seniors, including my buddy's grandparents, had their morning activities. We thought they'd be dancing for that day, but to my delight, they were actually playing badminton. (SWEET) that was nice, because I had to train for my to-be-3-singles slot for next year. Played the best guy there (he was 80...something). yeah, he taught me some new techniques, and in the end, I gained respect of the people at the park. yay. We did some other stuff, but then, in the evening, we returned to...the Children's Palace, yet again for our farewell ceremony. The next couple of days, we just went sightseeing. We went to this awesome fishing village. I'm pretty sure it was called Zhu Jia Jiao...but I could be wrong because there are something like two other villages around the area as well...But I think that's the name of the village because my Chinese surname is pronounced "Zhu" in Mandarin...and I saw all these characters of my surname all over the village. dude, that was awesome. We got on one of the boats (8 people per boat) and went down the narrow canal. This guy was our guide. When we disembarked, these random ladies were given some of us bags of fish. And we weren't sure what they were doing, because we didn't want to have to carry fish with us all day. Turns out, you make a wish and release the fish into the canal. ^_^ We also went to the Yu Garden. Yeah, this is me by one of the nice ponds in the garden. the place was a bit of a labyrinth. it was kinda hard for us to find the exit signs. o_O Prior to the entrance of the Yu Garden, was the Bridge of Nine Turns. If one crosses that bridge before entering the garden, his safety from evil spirits is ensured because evil spirits can't turn haha. So we also went up the Oriental Pearl Tower which has a great view of Shanghai...everything there was awesome except for the elevator ride up/down..which was hot...and ridiculously fast for an elevator. At the bottom floor of the tower's the Old Shanghai History Museum. woo. We went to the Bund (for me, the second time), afterwards. In the evening, we took an overnight train to Beijing. Last edited by disneydreams : 07-31-2005 at 06:25 PM.
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